Ch-42 Drawing A Map

There was a saying, ""Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."

This saying had influenced Jasper to develop a peculiar habit of drawing, especially the places he visited. He couldn't quite remember the reason for starting it but as time passed, his habit turned into passion and it became his hobby to draw them without fail,

For Jasper, coming to fantasy land was a treasure which was filed with stunning picturesque views which could never be found in Blue World. The presence of Mana made a lot of difference providing Arcane World with versatile vegetation and breathtaking scenery. Also, every place was different in appearance and feeling.

Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten the chance to draw all these wonderful views and it was impossible to draw every place he came across. However when Julian told him, Hidden Jungle was an unexplored region, the artist inside him wanted to make a map of this region and show it to the whole world.

Of course, Jasper needed drawing tools to make a map which he didn't have. He couldn't remember every place he went to in detail or the routes he took as he moved forward, but he had a solution for this.

After coming to Arcane World, Jasper found a camera in his pocket. He searched for his mobile phone but alas he wasn't that lucky, before falling a sleep he had removed it. Normally he wouldn't have kept the camera on him but that day he was too exhausted to remove it. The camera didn't weight much so he completely forgot about it.

The camera was the latest model of Olympian Zeus Thunder Mini edition with clarity more than 100k unreasonable resolution, size small enough to fit the small pocket of his shirt, having negligible weight and took shots with millisecond gaps. The camera was Jasper's 16th birthday gift.

After realizing Jasper had the camera with him, he hid it from Jennifer in fear of confiscation . As he travelled through Arcane World, he took photos of every place he went to and later on even hid it from Julian. Well, he doubted Julian was even aware of what camera is.

The moment Jasper remembered Julian, his expression soured as he spat with irritation, " Julian, that bastard. The next time I see him, he's dead. I am going to hate him for the rest of my life. He thought me one cultivation technique and then the next day disappeared. All he left behind was a none sense words,

' I am going ahead due to important matters. You must keep moving forward, I am warning you not to stray from this path until you meet me and keep practicing the cultivation technique I taught you because you are going to need it. Don't die otherwise I would be disappointed to lose a potential disciple. Best of luck surviving this treacherous Jungle. '

As if leaving him alone stranded in an unknown places was not bad enough, to add to his misery he had to mockingly joke about him dying , it was not funny when this was an actual possibility. Shit. "

Left with no choice, Jasper followed the instruction to move forward. Of course, Jasper was jesting about killing Julian. In fact, even if he wanted to really kill his teacher, he couldn't with his current pathetic strength. This was considering he was able to overcome from the scare he got witnessing his teachers terrifying strength.

Fighting beasts was not to his liking but it was the only way to keep improving, so with no other option, Jasper picked opponents with similar strength killing them one by one.

The Lynx also helped him fight as it was improved its strength and compatibility with Jasper.

Between fighting in the day, Jasper would take small breaks in which he took photos of the surrounding area. To remember the route he walked carved it on a log of wood, drawing every right or left he could. It was necessary for making a map of the hidden region.

These last few days had gone by sleepless for Jasper as he was busy cultivating ' Basic Body Training' technique. Cultivation was a state where a person is neither awake nor sleeping, somewhere in between. He gave all his effort to obtain Mana as soon as possible or else his chances of leaving Hidden Jungle would become very slim.

A jungle was a dangerous and unpredictable place where ferocious beast capable of killing Jasper with just a single strike prowled around or he may be trapped in an isolated area with no food , water and shelter or the people pursuing after him and Jennifer may catch up now that the Ancient Barrier hiding Hidden Jungle was broken.

Despite the problems that arose, Jasper didn't sit still because he wanted to save Jennifer and leave this Jungle. As he moved forward, fighting beasts whole day, taking photos and cultivating at night.

Jasper was finding it hard to sense Mana, which was bad news for him. He had tried different methods but none of them had worked. Today, he was going try a new method.

'I have tired going deep into my consciousness cultivating near trees, rivers and places Mana quantity is high. I even tried hanging upside down but none of them worked.

I seem to subconsciously search for Internal Ki Energy instead of searching for Mana and this action is out of my control. So, this time I am going to cut of my connection with Internal Ki Energy in hopes of sensing Mana."

Finding an ideal spot is important because it increased his chance of sensing Mana. Unfortunately Jasper had no knowledge of such a place. All he had to rely on were ideas from Fantasy Novels found in Blue World. Following the majority of novels, he found a lake and started meditating beside it.

Normally, Jasper would instinctively more towards Internal Ki Energy, however this time he resisted the urge trying to absorb it. As, he continued to resist a splitting headache started to form and it wasn't long before it turned into a full blown headache he wasn't able to bear.

Jasper's mind and body had gotten to use to Internal Ki Energy that when he tried to resist it, he experienced a lot of pain and fainted.

When he woke up, Jasper was in a cave with the Lynx sleeping in his lap. He lifted the Lynx into his arms and moved around thinking intensely.

' Yesterday's ordeal ended up in failure , but it was not a complete waste of time. Although it was only for less than a millisecond, I sensed another type of energy besides Internal Ki Energy. It must be the Mana teacher was talking about.

Even if I can sense Mana its for a very short period of time. This is never going to be enough of I want to obtain it, I must keep practising this technique until I develop a tolerance to fainting and able to sense Mana for longer period time which would make the processes faster. Since, its believed a person acts better when in a near dying state.

Jasper takes a look at the cute little Lynx in his arms as he brings it close to his face snuggling in it, " What would I have done without you??! Thank you so much for coming in my life. You are one of the few good things that has happened to me after coming to this godforsaken place.

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Jasper hears rustling of trees immediately alerting him as he summons his blunt sword and gets ready in a fighting position. He slowly moves towards the direction of the noise wanting to know the reason behind it. Reaching the place where he believed the noise came from, he looked around but there was no one.

' Perhaps, its just my imagination. A beast would have already attacked and there are no signs of humans. It can't be teacher since he wouldn't hide. "

However, Jasper was wrong because on a tree 50m high near him, a hooded figure was staring at him intensely.

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